Stuart Bell: I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's intervention, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer has laid down a policy of deficit reduction over four years up to 2014. [Interruption.] Well, there is a balance in the economy. We have talked about growth, and the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden talked about growth, cuts and taxation, so there is a balance. There will be a review of public...
Stuart Bell: I can tell the hon. Gentleman that there is not the slightest prospect of a Labour Government in the future adopting the policies proposed by the Conservative party. We believe that a deficit reduction over a period will give this nation state a financial soft landing. What the Conservatives promise us-they do not offer it-is a hard landing for the economy and for those in work. Conservative...
Stuart Bell: I will follow the argument of the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden. The economy requires growth, it requires reductions in public expenditure, and it may require taxes. It is a question of balance. It is not a question of an emergency Budget which says, "We're now going to cut public expenditure, and we're going to make people in the public sector unemployed. That is our recipe,...
Stuart Bell: What I accept as a fact is the statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that we shall be looking for efficiency savings. That is what the Chancellor said in his Budget speech, and that is what we accept. The right hon. Gentleman reflects Conservative party policy, and I salute him for that. Conservative party policy is to cut. It is to go back to 1979 and Lady Thatcher, who said as...
Stuart Bell: No.
Stuart Bell: If I may say so, it is a bit offensive for the hon. Gentleman, in this House of Commons, to read from a Red Book-which I assume is the Red Book containing this Budget-and expect me to have read it, given that I have been sitting here since 11 am and the document has only just been made public. Let us return to the point. Yes, there will be a reduction in public expenditure. The Chancellor has...
Stuart Bell: I do not think it is necessary to refer to a speech made by a junior Treasury Minister on 5 January, because the Chancellor of the Exchequer said exactly the same today. He said that in 2012-13 there would be £57 billion less in the economy than there is now. The point is-it is difficult for me to labour it sufficiently-that that position will be reached by means of a variety of measures....
Stuart Bell: That concept might well have produced a better scheme, but the fact remains that the scrappage scheme saved our car dealers and our car industry. Sales increased by 30 per cent. There are all sorts of fuel efficiency measures in London. I have to congratulate the Mayor of London on his biodiesel scheme, which enables people to avoid the congestion charge. But, of course, everything can be...
Stuart Bell: And the economy moves ever onwards. The economy moves: people buy; people sell; people borrow. So what is the hon. Gentleman complaining about?
Stuart Bell: That is another wild and woolly forecast far removed from reality from the Conservative Benches. We are talking about a nation state. The Chancellor made the point that we are the fourth largest economy in the world. We are not a tin-pot economy, therefore. The hon. Gentleman talks of funny money. His party colleague, the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden, mentioned quantitative...
Stuart Bell: I thought it was the battle of Blenheim. Regardless of what Browning's good news was, however, there most assuredly is good news on the Teesside scene, and also the national scene and economy. On the national scene-I am glad the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) is in his place because as a Scottish Member of Parliament this will be of great interest to him-Total SA has announced...
Stuart Bell: I am grateful to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, although I managed to get my little flash in before you rose to your feet. I would like to draw the House's attention to "Vision", a supplement of the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette, which describes "how Teesside's iron fist could forge a new beginning." "Vision" is also published with The Journal in Newcastle, and it gives the same message of...
Stuart Bell: Can the Prime Minister confirm that, following Total SA's announcement that it is to develop the west of Shetland gasfields of Laggan and Tormore, involving development investment of £2.5 billion, it has placed an order with Corus Tubes to manufacture the gas pipelines at Hartlepool, involving an investment of £200 million? Is that not good news for Teesside and for the country?
Stuart Bell: The Church's Liturgical Commission promotes and develops understanding of liturgy and its use in the Church. The commission sees music as an integral part of the Church's worship, not an optional extra.
Stuart Bell: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that kind invitation. He may be aware that the Lichfield cathedral choir heads off to America after Easter, but the cathedral frequently welcomes impressive visiting choirs. If his invitation is to hear the cathedral choir in New York, I am sure that the House would be very happy to accept.
Stuart Bell: As we are talking about cathedrals, I echo the views of the hon. Gentleman. He is of course aware of course that the Liturgical Commission takes a strong interest in these things. We are aware of all the traditions of the Church in relation to church music. We understand the transformative potential of music within Church of England worship; it is part and parcel, if I may say so, of our...
Stuart Bell: Church officials meet regularly with English Heritage, which, together with the Heritage Lottery Fund, offers grants for urgent repairs to listed places of worship. The scheme continues to be oversubscribed and is due to end in March 2011, so we expect to have discussions with English Heritage this year about its continuation.
Stuart Bell: The Church itself has spent £110 million on current repairs, due in no small measure to the listed places of worship grant scheme, which saw VAT reduced to 5 per cent. The Church can be grateful that the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, now the Prime Minister, pushed that through. We are looking to continue discussions with the European Commission and others to ensure that it is...
Stuart Bell: The panel tasked with appointing the new dean of Derby was pleased to receive a very healthy number of inquiries and many good-quality applications following its advertisement. Some 30 applications were considered at the long-listing stage.
Stuart Bell: I might in the narrow context of female deans, but the hon. Gentleman will know that the number of women archdeacons is steadily increasing. There are currently 15 of them-14 per cent. of the posts filled. We have two excellent female deans, at the hon. Gentleman's own cathedral in Salisbury and at Leicester cathedral. I agree with him, however, that we ought to do more and that there ought...